Sunday, January 22, 2006

Just put 2002's "Stander" in the Netflix queue... I wish I had gotten a chance to see it back when it was in theatrical release. I'm fascinated by Thomas Jane -- I don't think I've ever caught a bad performance by him. His big break was as Dirk Diggler's foil Todd Parker in "Boogie Nights," and he was terribly charismatic in that one. He even leant credibility to execrable dreck like Renny Harlin's "Deep Blue Sea," a movie that's more remembered for biting Samuel L. Jackson in half.

In fact, Jane is so cool he was able to convincingly play The Mick in "*61," teaming up beautifully with Barry Pepper, who played Maris. People jabber about heirs to Steve McQueen, but I think that any conversation on the subject that doesn't include Jane is off the mark. (I also have to add to that convo the wonderful Damian Lewis, who is both cool and a dead ringer for McQueen -- but he's a note for another day.) I even went so far as to drop "The Punisher" into my queue, not only because of my unerring faith in Jane but because he seems to be a good fit for the comic book character.

Speaking of comics, who knew Jane was a comic buff? He's hard at work writing a miniseries called "Bad Planet" for Image Comics. Is there anything he can't do?

Regrettably, this means that similarly-blonde-but-nonetheless-talented Aaron Eckhart loses his job. Sorry, Aar, but the last thing I remember you in was "Paycheck," and its namesake seemed to be the only reason you read that script.